V4362 Sgr (Nova Sagittarii 1994 No. 2)

V4362 (Nova Sagittarii 1994 No. 2)

Yukio Sakurai of Mito, Ibaragi, Japan, photographically discovered Nova Sgr 1994 No. 2 on May 20.710 UT at visual magnitude 10.8. On a photo taken by Sakurai four days earlier, he notes that no image was visible at this location down to magnitude 11.5. He captured the nova on its rise to maximum on SG400 patrol films taken with a 300-mm camera lens. Optical spectrograms obtained by S.J. Austin, G. Schwarz, and S. Starrfield, Arizona State University, and R.M. Wagner, Ohio State University, on May 23.3 UT with the Perkins 1.8-m telescope (+ CCD spectrograph) confirmed the object "as a nova with an early post maximum 'Fe II class' spectrum" (IAU Circular 5993).

Visual light curve of V4362 Sgr from the AAVSO International Database; May 7, 1994, to November 3, 1994

The dramatic light curve for V4362 Sgr in the AAVSO International Database shows the nova reaching a maximum of visual magnitude about 8.3 in June 1994. The decline from maximum occurred slowly and with a series of irregular oscillations between magnitudes 8.3 and 11.7 over a period of months.